Pantry seeks grant to help more children with food for weekends

Group needs online votes to win funding

The West Suburban Community Pantry in Woodridge has recently begun a pilot program that provides needy children with food on weekends.

The program assists 40 students at William F. Murphy and John L. Sipley schools in Woodridge. It includes distributing backpacks with food worth $15 inside that can feed three people over a weekend.

Pantry officials say the program is designed to benefit children who receive free lunches at school but often do not get proper nutrition on weekends.

Michael McDonnell, CEO and executive director, said the food is donated by the Northern Illinois Food Bank. But he said the pantry would like to purchase the food itself and make the program self-sustaining. In an effort to do so, the organization is trying to win a $20,000 grant from Wal-Mart's Fighting Hunger Together campaign.

"The grant would help us expand the program to other schools," McDonnell said. "So far the program has been successful, and we have been hearing a lot of positive things about it."

McDonnell said the pantry wants to expand to schools in nearby Darien and Lisle. McDonnell said every dollar the organization receives is enough to buy $6 of food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

"The grant would allow us to have the spending power to purchase $120,000 worth of food, or 56 tons of food," McDonnell said. "I think we can do it, but it's going to have to be a community effort."

The pantry drops off the food at the two schools once a week. School officials pack the items into backpacks before handing them out to the children at the end of the week. The food varies from week to week but often includes high-protein items such as cereal, beans, legumes, rice, grains, canned goods and nonrefrigerated milk.